Castaways
by FlowerofAdversity
Summary: A spoof of Survivor, but done lovingly so. The friends except Naomi are mistakenly sent to Malaysia to take part in a game that will challenge, enervate and enlighten them.


_Castaways _

_Note: A collaboration done by yours truly and BrightStar. The CL gang find themselves in Malaysia attending a show called "Castaways". The objective of the reality game show is to outlast all the other contenders. Their challenges will be difficult and only one can win the 200,000,000 dollars at the end. The only question is, which contestant is strong enough and smart enough to take home the prize ? _

_Chapter 1--Meeting Jeff Probst _

_For some strange, ill-conceived reason, Millie and Tamiya had been surfing the net one late evening when they couldn't sleep on campus and noticed an ad that read "Castaways Casting Beginning July 24__th__, 2008". Neither of the girls could resist checking into this contest. They had won so many in the past and this one would be simple. All they would have to do, or so they believed, was wait until their names were drawn and they would win whatever prize money was offered. But before they knew what they had gotten themselves into, Millie, Tamiya and their friends were being whisked away to __Malaysia_ to meet Jeff Probst. 

"I didn't sign up for this !", poor Herve whined. He'd have to monitor his asthma frequently in this climate and frankly, didn't want to go through with it, but Nick would be glad to keep his friend's condition in check. He would have no troubles. Herve was understandably worried because he would be considerably out of his element. He didn't do well in unknown situations such as this, but Erika placed an arm around him.

"Don't let it trouble you, my sweet.", she said, tenderly, stroking his hand. She soothed his fears almost instantly upon doing that. 

All the friends, eagerly, anticipated their welcome to Malaysia. 

"Pencak was said to have been practiced here. Apparently, it originated in Thailand.", Emily stated, wisely. Michael hadn't known this, nor had Leon, so both were initially impressed. Those who were familiar with Castaways had an idea of what was coming next. 

"I don't know if I can handle the physicality of the challenges.", Jim stated, unsure of himself. Here he was, 40-something and in peak physical condition worried if he'd be able to complete the enervating obstacle courses. 

"If its one man I know who can get through anything it's you. You survived Nam, you can survive this.", Suzanne stated, confidently, patting his muscular arm. He felt revived, like he was thirteen again. All it took was the reassuring word from his wife. 

"I hope we're on the same team. I'd hate to face dad in a challenge…I know he'd win, hands down. And I am not being biased.", Emily said, lovingly. The other friends had to agree with her. Jim would be a mighty ally, or a mighty foe, depending on what team he had to be aligned with. They would find out soon enough. 

As they rowed up to the island by canoe, Jeff Probst was there to greet him.

"Oh…my…gosh ! It's really you ! And you're way handsomer in person !", Odd said and then, realized he said something _very _provocative. 

"Shoot !", he muttered, gently knocking a fist into his head, feeling awkward. Jeff, simply laughed it off and perceived it as a compliment. 

"I hear that a lot, Odd. It's good to meet all of you. Now comes the time where I explain what will be happening before you are separated into groups. You will be spending a number of 2 weeks on the mainland of Malaysia. You will live off the land. This is the only means of you nourishing yourselves. If you need help, it will be provided for you, but only if it is a medical emergency. All set ? Then let's get you started.", Jeff said as he led them to where "pow-wows" would be held and contestants were voted off. 

Chapter 2--Vipers Vs. Mongoose 

Each member was divided into a team. Team One was the Viper team, represented by a fearsome black viper on a yellow flag. Each member would wear a viper handkerchief around their neck to signify their team. The Viper team was composed of Sissi, Ulrich, Jim, Aelita, Millie, Michael, Leon, Erika, Odd, Frieda and Nick. They would be located on one side of the island while the others would have their side. So far, the team was looking good, and the Viper team was proud to have Jim's strength on their side. 

The opposite team, appropriately enough, was called the Mongoose. They were Susanne, Emily, Herve, Jeramie, Nick, XANA, Diana, Oleander, Yumi, Tamiya and William.

Their handkerchiefs and banner were a mongoose, of course, ferociously depicted in black against a red background. 

"I was afraid of this. We're going to have to go up against _dad_.", Emily said, sadly.

"I know, my sweet. It's nothing personal. It's just a game. All in good fun. We have a good team, though. We'll win this game yet !", Suzanne stated, optimistically. A lot of the close friends were already missing each other dearly. 

"I can't stand being apart from Sissi.", Frieda pouted. 

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm worse about Tammy. She's probably wondering how I'm holding up. But if she were here she'd say, 'Millie, snap out of it, girl ! You're strong. You'll live through this.", Millie said as she hugged Frieda to comfort her. Frieda felt far better now that she had someone to support her. 

One team stood on one side, and the other team squared them off. There was a rope with a flag tied to the middle of it. 

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, contestants, the first challenge is a tug of war. Whichever team is able to overpower the other is granted immunity. The others, well, you'll be meeting me for a little pow-wow later on.", Jeff said. He readied them both and counted down from three and both sides began tugging for dear life. 

The Vipers definitely had the advantage with Jim's shear muscular build. Inasmuch as the Mongoose tried, they couldn't hold back the white flag from being pulled to the other end of the line. They lost immunity for that evening and Herve feared he'd be the first to be voted off the island. 

"Even if you are, you fought valiantly. And we'll be waiting to share our stories with you, whether pleasant or tumultuous.", Nick said, patting him on the back. The others agreed that Herve had shown quite a bit more drive and enthusiasm lately. Maybe it was because secretly, he wanted to impress Naomi, who sadly, hadn't been picked for the program but was hopefully watching him from afar. 

The rest of the day had been spent gathering supplies for dinner and both teams were pooped. On either side of the mountain, the Vipers took it easy and began building a fire for their dinner. The Mongoose did the same thing, but their dinner was soon interrupted by Jeff Probst. 

"I swear, I think Jeff's sadistic !", XANA stated in upset at his wife. 

"As far as I have seen on camera, you're right. He may be a completely different human being _off_ camera.", Oleander agreed. 

"You know why I've brought you here, Mongoose.", he started, a bit dramatically. They looked at each other momentarily and nodded. 

"You failed to win the tug-of-war and thereby lost immunity. In front of you is a quill and a piece of papyrus. On it, write the name of the one you wish to take the boat of lost souls back home.", Jeff said. One by one the votes were written and sadly, Herve's name did appear. 

"See, I was _right _! My psychic vibes never let me down !", he said as soon as they could sit him down for an interview. But he wasn't scorned or snubbed in the least. He said, as before, it was only a game and he wished his team the best of luck. With that said, he said goodbye to everyone, a bit tearfully, knowing he would miss them terribly in France, but upon the reunion of all the contestants, he'd be glad to see them and congratulate the winner in person. 

Chapter 3--Voted Off to the Last Man, or Woman 

The challenges were varied from day to day. One day, the team had to prove how well they could provide for themselves. Another, they had to locate a puzzle buried in the island somewhere and solve it. Strangely enough, one of these pieces had a hidden immunity idol and whomever found it had immunity for the rest of the game. The Mongoose were fortunate in Jeramie finding the little Pencak fighter locked within one of the wooden pieces. The puzzle itself had been enervating, but the challenges became worse as the weeks continued. One by one, members were being voted off until only a few were left. The final contestants were Suzanne, Diana, Emily and Jim. 

"Three women against one man. No pressure dude.", Jeff said to Jim during the typical pow-wow of the evening. This time, contestants would shoot an arrow at a target with the contestant's name they wished to vote off, and the twist was, they would be blindfolded as they did so. Strangely, Emily was the next to be voted off. 

"Drat ! I thought I was going to go all the way !", Emily said, upon her interview. She had never thought chance would come into the possibility of her dismissal from the island. But, rules were rules. She hugged her mom and dad goodbye as well as Diana. 

Secretly, she wondered who would win the competition at the end. Needless to say, intrigue was getting thicker like cake batter on a spatula mixer. 

After all the physicality the teams had endured, Jeff had one more obstacle for them to clear…Go-kart racing. 

"Now…wait just a minute. How are we going to race go-karts in the sand ?", Diana thought, curiously. 

"We brought in a portable race track. Convenient, no ?", Jeff said, wriggling his eyebrows. 

"Yes, and bizarre.", Suzanne complimented, raising an eyebrow. 

Upon entering the arena in the mid-land, Diana was paired with Jim to be fair while Susanne and Emily were kept together. Both were teamed up in a go-kart and whichever one made it to the finish would be the winner to the grand prize. Neither one of them was overconfident, but both really wanted to win the prize money so they could use it to fund research that Suzanne was conducting for people with insomnia, as well as other ventures involving Kadic and the community fair that would be held in August. 

Jeff set up the countdown and then threw down a flag, shouting "GO !". At once, Diana and Jim took the lead in their kart, but Emily and Suzanne were taking a close lead. It was neck and neck the whole race and the track had treacherous turns. At one time, sadly, Diana lost control, and Emily became concerned. 

"The finish isn't too far from here…", Suzanne moped a bit. 

"You would do the same thing if you were driving this kart, mom.", she said, honestly. And she definitely would have. Diana had been banged up a bit and she had a few contusions, but nothing a little tender loving care couldn't fix. Even though there had been an immunity idol involved in the game earlier, Emily could sense that there was still another immunity item to be found. For some odd reason, she felt it had to be a necklace. Perhaps, she mused, she could use her physic abilities to locate it, but then thought better of such a thing. It would be cheating if she did so, but temptingly enough, such a mention of using 'secret abilities' wasn't against the rules in Castaways. Despite that, Emily _didn't _use her talent and decided to let her instinct lead her. 

"You take care of Diane and dad…I'll find my way to the finish line.", she said. While Suzanne helped an ailing spouse and friend, she began helping them to the finish line, even though it was slow going. 

Emily was watching her speed carefully through the hairpin corners as she took a slight detour. She could see something shiny gleaming in the light from a radio tower. Jeff, who was watching from his trailer outside the complex wondered what on earth Emily had in mind but then as soon as he saw a second camera focus on the necklace, he knew. He had not mentioned that there were _idols_, but only one during the taping of the program. To be honest, he had forgotten all about it and felt a little dumb. He was very impressed though, and strangely, found himself rooting for her. 

Easily, she scaled the tower and snatched the necklace. She draped it over her neck and slid down the tall silver tower to see her mom, dad and Diana catching up to her, _on foot_. She would let them win the race since she knew what the necklace granted her. Getting back into her kart, Emily finished as a loser, but only two of the remaining contestants was going to win the big cash prize. 

Epilogue 

The race had been harrowing and all the contestants were barely able to stand, let alone blink. But they were glad to make it to this final pow-wow.

"All of you had a sensational race, but only 2 of you are winners. I am glad to say that Emily and her mom, Suzanne are our victors. And even though there is a limit to what we can offer for our runner's up, I have decided to give them a consolation prize worthy of their devotion and determination. You two are welcome to travel anywhere here in Thailand and Asia. You are limited to the amount of people you can take along with you, but with the group you had you should be welcomed to travel together.

Both teams were happy and Suzanne had been able to begin her research soon after she and her daughter and her friends traveled throughout Asia. It was the most unforgettable summer they had ever experienced. Sadly, they hadn't been able to enjoy the fair that some of their money had provided for but the pictures they received as well as thank you notes and letters that begged for a fair next summer were more than they could've ever wanted.

Although the trip had ended and they had experienced the art of Pencak up close and personal through watching tournaments, they would always cherish Malaysia. Sure, it had been dreadfully torrid during the summer but the experience on the island had been unforgettable. They had gotten their photograph taken with Jeff before they went on their trip to Thailand and Asia and learned that Jeff too, was not the jerk he portrayed himself to be. That was only for the camera and ratings. He was like the rest of them, a human being, flawed, but helping others less fortunate through charity and in that they knew they were making a difference, albeit small and touching others with their inspiration, youth and optimistic spirits.

The End


End file.
